The New Testament: Can We Trust It?

I forgot when I started this series of posts that I have to work the Catalyst Conference this week. I almost feel bad saying it that way. I do -- after all -- get to hang out with good folks like Reggie Joiner and Lanny Donoho and listen to Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus, Malcolm Gladwell, Louie Giglio, Bill Hybels and Donald Miller. Still, it is work. No, really...it is.

Anyway, I'm going to be scattered this week, but I do want to continue this thread. So, my question for you today is this: How can we trust the veracity -- the reliability of the New Testament? Were there other authentic sources or "gospels" that were discarded in the process of collecting what we now know as the New Testament?

One of the characters in The Da Vinci Code says, "The Bible is a product of man, my dear, not of God. History has never had a definitive version of the Book. The Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 325 A.D."

Is that true? If so, can you prove it? If not, can you refute it? This question especially goes out to those of you who have attended church most of your life and call yourselves Christians. Can you explain how we got the New Testament?